Post by The Chupster on Jul 28, 2017 3:36:22 GMT -5
Backstage, Hugh Jass is in the middle of searching for something, cameraman in tow. He turns down a dark hallway and stops, looking around.
Jass (whispering): Shit, I don't hear it anymore, do you?
Cameraman (also whispering): Nope.
Jass continues to glance around, listening intently. Suddenly, in the distance, a voice can be heard, like someone trying to be quiet, having a disagreement on the phone. Jass's face lights up and he waves for the cameraman to follow. Crouched, they whisk down the hallway, coming to a locker room entrance. The lights are off, but wavering light can be seen bleeding out into the hallway. Hugh enters and passes several rows of lockers, then stops abruptly. The voice has grown louder.
Voice: No, no, no... we don't lead, so we follow. Weak alone, so we gather. We are numb, so we share our pain. Don't lead, so we follow. Weak, so we...
Hugh: Uh... excuse me... are you okay?
The camera rounds the corner, revealing a man, sitting on a sink counter, peering into a mirror. He sits cross-legged amongst a dim electric lantern, a few candles and some scattered, open, empty pill bottles. At Hugh's voice, he stops suddenly and after a moment, begins to turn his head.
It's Bloodraven, his eyes wide. He stares at Hugh, but doesn't seem to see him. Pupils wide, his eyes dart here and there, and he slowly turns back to the mirror.
It's Bloodraven, his eyes wide. He stares at Hugh, but doesn't seem to see him. Pupils wide, his eyes dart here and there, and he slowly turns back to the mirror.
Raven: We don't lead... so we follow. Weak alone, so we gather.
Hugh: Do you need help?
Raven: Help... help... help. Help. We have help. We have friends. Friends help. No... no, no, no no. We don't lead...
Hugh: Hey, Bloodraven... buddy, who are you talking to?
Raven (gesturing, his good hand stretched out, fingers straight, toward the mirror): The voices, they ask me, so I have to keep telling them.
Hugh: What voices?
Raven: Different times, different voices, different people. I, I couldn't hear them for a long time. Then the new doctor, and his new pills, and we don't like them very much. And we, I missed them.
Bloodraven brandishes a pair of scissors. Hugh hops back about 5 feet.
Hugh: WHOA... we're all friends here, man.
Raven: Yes. Yes, all my friends are here now. We thought we'd go back to black, but that just doesn't seem... right. (He becomes emotional, his lips trembling.) We tried to embrace change, remember? EMBRACE CHANGE. Seth, how could you become so lost?
Bloodraven pulls his hair out straight and begins cutting it away in large clumps.
Hugh: Hey, maybe you don't wanna do that, maybe we need to walk down the hall, see what we can do about, y'know, helping you out, man.
Raven: No... this is just what we needed. We tried to embrace change once again. "Pain is my comfort; blood, my liberation. DREAM RED." But it didn't feel right. It didn't work. The time to embrace change is past. Now we must change ourselves.
His work done, the scissors clatter to the floor. Hugh tries to say something, but Bloodraven turns slowly toward Hugh, holding something, hard to make out in the relative darkness.
Raven: Now we become something... new. Something old. Reinvented. We can't fly, but we can run. We can't lead; we can't follow...
Raven pulls the mask over his face; somehow the leather shines in the flickering light, almost like old metal. He clips it closed and turns away, the canine aspect immediately apparent, his eyes now gleaming a deep red.
Raven: ...but we can HUNT.
The transformation complete, Cerberus lunges forward, superkicking Hugh, whose head ricochets off of the locker behind him. He leaps at the cameraperson, and the shot goes wild, the camera smacking around on the concrete floor, followed by static and then, darkness.
